Koncerninterna Transaktioner i Kommunala Företagskoncerner : Fallet Linköpings Stadshus

• Main Authors: Jonsson, Anders, Lundh, Simon
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Ekonomiska institutionen 2005
• Subjects: Business studies; group contribution; shareholders'contribution; dividend; municipal groups; non-profit housing company; Företagsekonomi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2720

Background: In newspaper articles, we can nowadays read headlines as"Stop the robbing!"and"They pay extra tax through rent". A column in Göteborgsposten describes enormous amounts of money, pouring between municipal companies. Numerous of local newspapers have started to pay attention to their municipal companies and the transfer of profits from municipal housing enterprises and electric power companies. What are upsetting these journalists then? Both Hyresgästföreningen (The Swedish tenants’ association) and Boverket (The Swedish National Housing Board) indicate that the fiscal purpose of transactions within the group no longer is primary for municipalities. They allege that the transactions are improperly exploited by transferring inappropriate amounts of money from municipal housing enterprises. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to map transactions between municipal group companies and also evaluate if they are consistent with the accounting regulation in the domain. Delimitation: The case study will have a geographical delimitation by only including the group of Linköpings Stadshus. The study will only include the years during 1997-2003. The transactions that will be examined are group contributions, shareholders’ contribution and dividend. The case study will also process the interest expense of the parent company because of the promissory note loan that was raised from the municipality of Linköping in connection with the formation of the group. Realisation: In the form of a case study, the thesis was realised through the collection of annual reports, obtained from the companies concerned. These data was complemented through qualitative interviews with representatives from the parent company and the municipality. The complementation was made to increase the comprehension of the problems. Results: The municipality is primarily using competition and focus in result as important factors when trying to imitate private companies. This does not harmonize with the purpose of the municipal transactions. It is also clear that municipal groups may be composing strategies dealing with empty the subsidiary companies out on capital. This applies particularly to electric power companies. In the case study, compared to a payment of tax, Tekniska Verken has not recovered enough shareholders’ contribution. With that, these companies financial position is clearly deteriorating compared to if they would pay tax. Regulations of housing enterprises were not created until 1999. That means that violations of the regulations were not possible before that either. Obviously, the groups were using this opportunity, and the dividend that has been discussed in the case study, is a clear example of the municipality not giving priority to the clients of the housing enterprise. Though, it is important to point out the legality of a dividend of that kind.